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ROCK SALT AND SEA SALT VS TABLE SALT

Rock Salt and Sea Salt vs Table Salt - Which One Is Healthier

Author: Chef George Krumov

 

Before I tell you which salt is better for your health, lets start first with what they are.

Table salt:
Table salt is derived from underground salt deposits, then heavily processed by heat and chemicals to strip it from all the additional minerals, leaving the bare sodium molecules only, and then synthetic iodine and anticaking chemical agents such as aluminum added to it. Sounds yummy, doesn't it?

Sea salt:
Sea salt is derived by evaporating sea water. It has different chemical composition depending on the properties of the water. Unprocessed sea salt is usually grayish. Not all sea salt is unprocessed though. Some sea salt is heat processed, and some of it has anticaking agents added to it as well. That makes it essentially much closer to table salt then what people would think. Anticaking agents are added to salts, most notably table salt, to prevent the salt from forming clumps in the package. However, a little tap on the package is not much of an inconvenience to suffer for the right not to eat chemicals. I recommend pure unprocessed sea salt such as Celtic salt which is grayish in color and has no chemicals added to it. Many so called connoisseurs will tell you that the difference in salts is about the taste. I am a chef and I can tell you honestly that I have never detected even the slightest difference in taste by using different salt in any of my recipes. As a health conscious person I can tell you that the only difference is about health.

Natural mineral rock salt:
This kind of salt most famous representative is the Himalayan salt, but it can also come from ancient sea beds. Unlike the table salt, rock salt is usually not bleached, kiln dried, heated or altered by chemicals. No additives and preservatives has been added to it as well. It contains many trace minerals which are in their most natural form, therefore have good nutritional value for your body.

The last two salts are the kind of salt the human body is designed to use and has been using for millions of years. Our bodies know how to use it and how to get rid of it as well. Table salt is such an easy source for sodium for the human body that a lot of it remains longer and clogs your arteries and damages your cells. How do I know that? Well, I am not a scientist and don't want to be one as well. I know what I know because it makes perfect sense to me, and this is the way of life I have chosen.

Most people get way too much table salt from fast food and other crap they eat. They are told that they need to cut back on sodium when eventually their bad lifestyles catch up on them and they go see the doctor. But, on the other hand, do eating bland food have any positive health effects. I think not, so the sodium is not the big culprit here. It is the junk. Season junk with whatever salt you can, it still is a junk. Even worse, most fast food is partially seasoned with mono(sodium) glutamate. However, even if you are leading an otherwise healthy lifestyle, you can do yourself tons of good by switching to rock salt. Don't worry about the iodine that you would "miss" from the table salt. I don't believe that any synthetic supplements even work. And the iodine in table salt is synthetic. Better take kelp or otherwise eat food rich in iodine. If you are leading a healthy lifestyle you might already have the recommended iodine intake. Cheers.
Chef George Krumov

Chef George Krumov
About the author: George Krumov is a Red Seal certified chef with many years of culinary experience working around the world in Europe, the Middle East, the cruise line industry and North America. In the last two decades he has headed the kitchens of several restaurants in Canada, and ran his own restaurant.

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